Ripped
by Ellen1996
Summary: A body is found, gruesomely mutilated in the woods. It's up to the BAU to find out who did it. But when the case takes a turn for the worst, they might be down 2 agents... JJ/PRENTISS.
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's note: JJ and Emily are dating. This is a procedural story, so it's like a case. Little backstory. Just a heads up. Enjoy!**_

_**RIPPED by Ellen1996**_

**PROLOGUE**

The dry leaves on the floor creaked uneasily as he crawled forward, one hand trying to grip the merciless ground below him, the other clutching the deep gashes in his stomach, blood spouting out like a fountain. He choked, trying to breathe but he knew his lungs were failing him. He dropped his shaking hands, his energy drained.

The figure still chasing him stopped when it saw how weak the man had got. As he whimpered on the ground, the silhouette stopped above him with a smile. The man knew who it was, he knew it all too well.

With a grin, his killer stepped forward until its feet touched the shaking, dying man.

"I'm sorry it had to end this way." the figure spoke. The man didn't have the energy to reply.

"Rest in peace." It grabbed something from its pocket and lowered down. The man saw the shimmering blade of a sharp object and knew his time had come.

As the weapon was lowered into his stomach, he felt the life leave him. Thinking about how the last thing he'd ever see was the figure of his killer, darkness enveloped him.

**CHAPTER ONE**

"No, I just arrived at the crime scene. Get some rest. Alright? I love you, bye." Jennifer Jareau arrived at the chaos of police lint and spectators and gently pushed her way through the crowd. When she finally stopped at the police lint, she showed her credentials to the waiting officer and slipped underneath the lint.

"Good morning." Derek Morgan smiled at her. She nodded quickly, trying to stifle a yawn. "Sorry, I fell asleep again after your call...What have we got?"

The BAU had been called out to the crime scene only minutes after the local PD was informed of the murder. Because it was in Virginia, the team managed to get there only hours after the murder, the crime scene still open.

Because they had only closed another case hours before the call came, all of the agents were exhausted. Morgan was the only one kind of awake, along with JJ, so he invited her over to handle initial information gathering while the others napped for an hour.

"Male. He's mauled pretty badly." He explained, browsing through his notes.

"Any witnesses?"

"Only the jogger that found the body." He sighed. "He was in his eighties, they almost had to call an extra ambulance for him."

"I can picture." JJ nodded. "Where's the body?"

"They're still collecting." He explained. She frowned at his choice of words. "Collecting? They still haven't brought the body in?"

"JJ, the body was..." He paused. "There were intestines and blood everywhere. Everywhere." He repeated for emphasis.

One of the police officers approached them and introduced himself to JJ. "Officer Rayn. I was the first on scene. Let's go to the actual murdering place."

The trio walked further into the woods and JJ's stomach clenched at the sight. Morgan had been right. There was blood _everywhere_. On the trees, on the ground and on the leaves of the bushes. Officer Rayn grabbed his phone and showed pictures of the body.

It was mauled so badly, JJ could barely recognize it. She would've thought it was some animal that was run over by a truck.

"How are we ever going to identify that victim?" JJ whispered to Morgan, who sighed.

-

**CHAPTER TWO  
**

"A body, ripped apart inside the woods, spread out in a 10 foot radius with no visible clues or finger prints around." JJ announced to the room of profilers. Everyone was present, except for Emily, who stayed behind in the hotel room because she wasn't feeling well. Last case had taken a lot out of all of them, so they decided to give her some more sleep until they really needed her. JJ was concerned, of course, but she had to focus on the case.

"The old jogger was in complete shock so we haven't had a chance to interview him." Morgan added. "He's at the hospital getting oxygen treatment."

"Get that done as soon as possible. The longer it takes, the more he'll forget." Hotch announced. The leader of the team wasn't happy with falling asleep earlier, but he was the one that hadn't slept in days so he had to give the work out of his hands. Right now though, he was ready to go.

"It looks like a first time kill." Spencer commented upon seeing the pictures. "The killer didn't know what he was doing so just decided to maul him."

"Or an act of revenge." Hotch commented. "Rage induced."

"Do we have any leads to ID the victim?" Rossi asked.

"Well, we asked Garcia to do a scan of all missing people in the vicinity. And we have a list of people it could possibly be. The ME is still busy with the autopsy but she let us know that she's certain the body is male. It narrowed it down slightly, but we still have hundreds of possibilities, not counting people that disappeared in the last 3 days."

"That leaves us nowhere." Rossi sighed as the rest of the table nodded.

"Have you guys checked last night's disappearances? Do we know around what time he died?" Spencer asked.

JJ's phone buzzed and she excused herself for a second. Morgan shook his head. "We don't know anything until the full autopsy report is out. In the meantime we should start profiling the killer properly."

"Guys, there's been an update." JJ rushed back inside, putting her phone back into her pocket. "The ME just told me that all the majors organs of the body were nowhere to be found."

"The organs were harvested?" Hotch asked. JJ shook her head. "More like ripped out. They weren't properly removed, it looked like they were just chopped off and gone."

"So the organs probably won't be sold?" Rossi asked.

"This isn't a random killing act. This killer knew exactly what he was doing." Morgan concluded.

"We have to get Prentiss on this case too. I know she's sick but we need all the help we can get." Hotch announced.

JJ nodded as she pushed her chair away so she could get up. "I'll go get her."

"Reid and Morgan, can you head to the hospital and get that jogger's story?" The detective nodded and walked out of the room. "Rossi, try and talk to the PD to see if there was any unusual activity."

"Got it." Rossi left as well.

Hotch turned to JJ when they were the only people in the room.

"Are you okay?" He asked. JJ sat down on top of the table and frowned.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

Hotch didn't answer the question, but nodded. "Alright. Pick up Prentiss, go back to the crime scene and make sure we didn't overlook any evidence."

"Got it." JJ grabbed her coat and sped off.

-

**CHAPTER THREE**

-

"Emily?" JJ said as she unlocked the door to the hotel room and stepped inside. She heard a stumbling from the bathroom and sighed with a smile. She removed her coat and walked towards the door.

"Emily? Are you in here?" She knocked, but got no response. She heard another sound from inside and knocked again. "Emily?"

The door opened, and a figure bumped into her with a shriek. JJ jumped backwards and reached for the Glock in her holster, but sighed when she saw it was Emily, hair wet, and dressed only in a towel.

"Jesus Christ, you gave me a heart attack, Jen!" Emily brought a hand to her chest and panted. JJ grunted. "Well, I almost shot you! I thought you were a goddamn burglar!"

"Why would I be a burglar in a hotel room?!" Prentiss countered.

"Well, you didn't answer me when I yelled your name when I got in!" JJ flopped onto the bed, her girlfriend trailing behind her. "I had my earbuds in! I was taking a bath!"

"Let's just drop it." JJ grunted. "You need to get dressed quickly."

"Why...?" Emily asked. JJ rubbed her eyes. "We need you. Hotch said he was sorry but we need all the help we can get. The body is horrible."

Emily frowned at JJ's sudden rush. "Horrible?"

"It was spread out everywhere. The organs were removed, the blood spat 10 feet away from the body..." JJ sighed. "We need to re-investigate the crime scene to see if there's any evidence we missed."

Emily hastily grabbed together some clothes and dropped her towel. JJ looked away out of politeness, yet being in a relationship together had caused them to have no more secrets for each other.

"Did you ID the victim yet?" Emily asked while she was still fumbling with her clothes. JJ shook her head, but then realized she was looking away. "No. We have to wait for the autopsy report to even begin searching."

"I can imagine." Emily sighed as she grabbed her holster and badge from her nightstand and put them on her belt. "All good to go."

"Back to the crime scene." JJ announced, not sounding particularly happy about it.

-

**CHAPTER FOUR**

-

"SAA Emily Prentiss and Jennifer Jareau, FBI. We need to re-investigate the crime scene." The two agents flashed their badges and moved to continue walking, but the man in front of them stopped Emily with an outstretched arm.

"I'm afraid this part of the woods has been cleared for public and I can't let you investigate any further."

"As a groundskeeper, we know that it's your duty to preserve and take care of this forest, but this is a crime scene. A man was brutally murdered here and we need to find out who did it. So please step aside, because I don't want to arrest you for interfering with the investigation." JJ said.

The man, however, didn't look like he was eager to move. "You listen to me. These are my woods. I've taken care of them for the past 40 years-..." He was interrupted roughly by Emily stepping forward and looking him in the eyes, putting her hands loosely on her gun.

"Either you go to prison and may never ever see these damn woods again, or you listen to _us _and walk away."

The man grunted something incoherently and nodded quickly. "Fine. No longer than ten minutes, and if I see as much as one leaf out of place I'm suing your damn asses."

"We can live with that." Emily nodded as the man stomped away. The blonde looked at her in admiration "Nice moves, Prentiss. You even scared me."

Emily smiled. JJ looked around to see if anybody was near them, and the quickly pecked her girlfriend on the lips.

"Right, let's get back to business. From the reports I read neither of the people that scanned the area found anything useful. No fingerprints, no hair or shoeprints..."

"Looking for anything in particular?" Emily asked, snapping on gloves. JJ, who did the same, shook her head. "With some luck, those organs are stashed in a tree somewhere."

The two started looking around, taking in their surroundings. JJ searched the trees and roots, while Emily searched the ground. After a while, it was Emily who broke the silence.

"JJ? What was the weather forecast for this morning?"

The blonde turned to her and frowned. "Uh, it was cloudy with a bit of sun."

"But no rain?"

"No. No rain." She walked over to where Emily was studying the ground intensely. "How come?"

"This ground is wet." Emily noted as she touched the dirt with her hands.

"Well, it must have been some Officer that washed away all the blood. If the groundskeeper said that they made the forest public again they must have cleaned the blood."

Emily leaned down and sniffed the ground, shaking her head. "They clean the blood with some sort of bleach. This doesn't smell like bleach."

"Well, since this is a forest, they might've just used water. Chemicals can damage the nature in here." JJ reasoned logically. Emily lowered her hands into the ground and pulled back.

"If they'd just used water, there would still be blood mixed with it. It would be red. And my hands aren't stained."

"What are you thinking, Prentiss?" The blonde detective raised an eyebrow. Emily turned to face her partner.

"I'm thinking-..." She tried, but she got interrupted by a crack to her left. She turned around, looking at the bushes surrounding them. JJ put a hand on her shoulder. "It's just an animal. What were you saying?"

"It smells like...vinegar. "Emily frowned as she sniffed again.

JJ lowered herself onto her knees next to her and smelled the ground as well, nodding. "Definitely vinegar. What is that doing in here?!"

The two agents got up again, both staring at the ground, puzzled. JJ took a deep breath. "I'm going to call Hotch and tell him."

She grabbed her phone and turned around to dial Hotch's number. Emily knelt down again to feel the dirt, when it dawned on her.

"Jen, people use vinegar to-..." she was interrupted by a loud yelling. She turned around quickly enough to witness a man tackling JJ and pinning her down onto the ground.

She reached for the Glock in her holster immediately, pulling it. "Let her go, _right now._" The anger in Emily's voice was audible, but the man pulled JJ to her feet roughly, taking the Glock from her own holster and aiming it at Emily, clicking the safety off. As soon as she heard the click, another sound behind her made her shift her attention.

"The ten minutes are over." The cold voice behind her announced. Hearing another dry click, she realized another gun was being pointed at her.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Author's note: On a very unprofessional note, I'd like to say that this is a reworked version of a crime show I am currently scripting. In the story, the main characters are not FBI but normal PD Homicide detectives, so I apologize if there are any mistakes I overlook while writing. Thanks!**_

**CHAPTER FIVE**

"Let's relax, okay? Let's talk." Emily said carefully, her eyes trained on the man holding JJ around her neck. The blonde looked distressed, but relatively calm. She'd been in this situation before, and she knew she needed to play it cool.

"There's nothing to talk about." The groundskeeper walked around Emily, his revolver still aimed at her. "I told you not to mess with me."

"We apologize, and we can arrange this through the police department, we can give you a damage claim, anything you want. But let her go."

"Drop your gun." The man holding JJ said. Emily's throat went dry but she nodded quickly, putting it on the ground and raising her hands. The groundskeeper grabbed the gun and put it in his belt, smiling.

"Why mix vinegar in it?" Emily asked the man, her eyes trained on JJ's face. The blonde looked confused at her question.

"Because of nosy people like the two of you. You have no idea what you're getting yourselves into. This isn't a police matter, this is private." The other man spoke.

"A man was mur-..." JJ tried, but the man holding her increased pressure on her neck and she coughed, trying to take a breath. Emily's heart jumped, but she knew there was nothing she could do.

"Why vinegar?" The groundskeeper asked, as if to taunt her. "Because vinegar neutralizes the smell of gasoline."

Emily took a shaky breath, already putting one and one together.

"Are you an arsonist?" She asked the man, who laughed out loud. "Me? An arsonist? I'm just doing my job here, lady!"

"Do you like setting fire to your own forest? Do you like killing people? Are you a murderer?!" Emily said to him.

The man yelled out, turned to JJ and punched her square in the gut. The agent doubled over in pain, feeling tears sting in her eyes.

"SHUT UP!" he cried, aiming the revolver at JJ. Emily froze immediately, knowing she hadn't made the best of moves.

"You do not understand our ways! Tell your cop friends to stay out of our business! Danny, let's finish this." He said to the other man, who nodded and let go of JJ, who dropped to the ground immediately, coughing. Emily tried to reach her, but the gun still trained on her friend made her retreat from her actions.

Danny reached into his pocket and grabbed a small square box. Emily's stomach somersaulted as she realized what he was doing.

"Don't-..." She tried weakly, but she knew it was a lost cause.

"Since you're not part of this, I'm giving you ten seconds to run." The groundskeeper spoke. Emily didn't hesitate as soon as she saw that he'd lowered his gun. She raced to JJ's side, picked her up into her arms and sped away from the scene. Sooner than she'd expected, she felt a huge heat wave propel her forward.

**CHAPTER SIX**

Thousands of sounds at once were pounding and echoing inside her skull. She winced as she heard a blurry voice yelling at her. Carefully opening one eye, the brunette jumped awake roughly. She now recognized the figure above her, it was Morgan.

"Derek..." she whispered as she went to sit upright. He put his hands on her shoulders and gently held her back. "Calm down, Emily."

"W-what...t-the forest...the groundskeeper..." she sputtered incoherently, the reality of the situation kicking in. Morgan shook his head. "Take it easy, take it easy. You can tell me everything when you're checked over."

Emily frowned at his statement, but looked around for the first time, her breath catching in her throat.

The forest was burnt black. Some trees were still on fire. The firefighters were all over the place, spraying with fire extinguishers. She was lying on a gurney right next to an ambulance. Her eyes widened when she looked inside.

JJ was sitting on a gurney, talking to one of the paramedics. She was holding some sort of cloth to her head, blood trickling down her forehead. Emily went to sit upright, ignoring Morgan's protests. A paramedic walked over to her.

"Hello Agent Prentiss. Do you mind if I take a quick look?" he asked friendly. Emily shook her head and he started to examine cuts and scrapes on her hands and face.

"H-how is she?" She asked carefully, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"Oh, your colleague? She's going to be fine. She had a gash right above her eyebrow where she slammed into the ground and she's a bit confused, but nothing a couple of days of resting won't fix."

Emily sighed in relief as she turned to Morgan. "Derek...the guys that did this-..."

"...Got away. I'm sorry, Emily." He finished the sentence for her.

"No, you don't understand! Those guys...It was the groundskeeper of the forest...A-and some guy named Danny." Emily said quickly, sitting upright. "They told us to stay out of it, that it was a private matter."

"Well, all evidence that could have been overlooked is now gone. Our entire crime scene is gone." He sighed in defeat. A scuffling noise to her left made Emily look up.

JJ jumped out of the ambulance and walked towards them, limping slightly. The paramedic that was treating her said something, but she waved him away.

"What do we know?" She asked as she joined the two other agents.

"We know that you should be listening to the paramedics." Morgan said, raising an eyebrow. JJ shrugged. "I'm fine, it's just a scratch."

"You really should be careful, Jen." Emily said. Derek turned to her with an incredulous look. "Same goes for you, Emily."

The two female agents shot him an identical glare. He sighed at the stubbornness of the two and shook his head. "Fine. Do you think those guys murdered the man?"

JJ looked at Emily, and then shook her head. "They weren't going to shoot us, it was just threatening. And that groundskeeper was trying to look vicious, but I know he was scared. They might have been part of the plan, but I don't think they killed him."

"So, why blow themselves up?" Morgan asked them theoretically.

"From what I can interpret from this whole situation..." JJ rubbed her chin in thought. "I think it has something to do with a clan or rituals of some sorts. The way they kept on saying that it didn't concern us..."

"Could you identify the two men if you were asked to make a description?" He asked them. The two shared a look before nodding quickly.

"I'll go to the police station to make the description. JJ, you should go to the hospital." Emily said. JJ shook her head quickly. "I'm fine, Emily. Stop worrying."

For a moment, Emily's decisiveness seemed to falter, but then she shook her head. "No discussions. I saw the beating you took, you're going to make sure you're okay, and then you can come help us with the case."

JJ opened her mouth to reply, but then realized it was futile and grunted, turning around and getting back inside the ambulance.

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

-

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Emily asked JJ as she entered the makeshift office where they'd set up for their investigations. The other four agents followed their conversation intensely.

"I can help out with the case." JJ smiled weakly as she sat down. The fabricated answer made Prentiss frown and she was about to open her mouth to ask her girlfriend how she _really _was doing when Spencer cleared his throat.

"So, the jogger got us nowhere. He almost had a heart-attack. He said he just found the body on his morning jog and called 911 immediately."

"No unusual activity in the neighborhood, not that the police could tell me anyway. There have been reports of loud noises from the woods but even the PD admit that those are animal cries." Rossi also commented. Morgan, in the meantime, had opened the laptop in front of them and made connection with Garcia.

"Good morning my little buttercups. How can the Queen of Technology be at your service?" Garcia answered cheerily.

"Garcia, we need you to check a few things. First of all, do we have any records on who the woods belong to?"

The blonde tapped a few keystrokes, and then looked up again. "Okay, it says here that the woods used to belong to a private owner but he died about fifty years ago and it has been public ground ever since."

"Can you look up who the groundskeeper of the woods is?" Hotch continued, as his phone buzzed. He stepped out of the room for a second, the rest of the agents looking at the screen.

"Okay, the groundskeeper should be Martin Pont, 67." She sent a picture to the screen. JJ recoiled slightly at the sight of his face, a movement that didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the team. Prentiss cleared her throat. "It's him. And he had an accomplice named Danny as well, though that could be an alias."

Hotch stepped back inside. "The ME identified him."

"Really?!" Everybody turned to their boss, who nodded. "John Doe's real name is Hector Audis, 24."

Garcia typed quickly and nodded, showing the team his picture. She then quickly continued, but grunted and looked up. "There are thousands of Danny's in Virginia alone, Emily. I'm sorry."

"Narrow it down on blonde short hair, between 18 and 25." JJ whispered. Garcia did as she was asked, but still shook her head. "Those are still about 200 people. And I have limited access to their files."

"Okay, thank you Garcia." Hotch nodded. "We're a lot further than we were 5 minutes ago. We need to figure out a connection between Pont and this Danny individual. Talk to relatives, acquaintances, anybody that possibly knows Martin Pont."

"You do not understand our ways. That's what they said, right?" Morgan asked. Both women nodded. "So we can assume it's maybe cult-like?"

"The way his body was mauled, I think we can assume they've done it before." Hotch said. "Garcia, do you have a background check on Hector Audis?"

The tech analyst looked up. "I was already searching, boss. Hector Audis was a soldier. He did 2 tours in Iraq, last one ended a few weeks ago. Credit-card was last used...yesterday evening at a pretty fancy restaurant. Table for two. He also recently bought a pretty expensive ring at a jewelry store, so I'm guessing he has one lucky lady. " Garcia announced. "His record is as clean as a whistle."

"Okay, Rossi and Spencer, you go and interview Martin Pont's relatives, see if the name Danny pops up anywhere." The two profilers nodded and walked out of the room.

Hotch then turned to the three others. "Morgan, Prentiss, you go to Hector Audis' house. Try and see if you can get his fiancée to talk."

"Hotch-..." JJ started as soon as she saw the way he teamed up. He stopped her by raising his hand. "I don't want to hear it, JJ. You're going to stay here and work on a press conference. It's a small town and it has gone crazy since the murder. I need you to tell them to stay vigilant. And you need to stop overexerting." The two other profilers left and JJ turned to him.

"Hotch, I'm fine. I'm not a broken doll, I can take care of myself." She grumbled at her boss' behavior. He stepped forward and looked her in the eyes. "You broke a rib and you have a concussion. Either you listen to me or you're off this case."

JJ sighed, out of arguments. "Please don't tell Emily. She's already fussing over me like it is."

Hotch tilted his head, but then nodded. "I won't tell her." He walked out the door after that. JJ sighed, but the other voice in the room made her jump up.

"Gumdrop...what happened?" JJ looked at the screen where Garcia was sitting, her eyes wide and concerned. "A _concussion_? W-what did you do?!"

"Nobody told you?" JJ asked with an incredulous look on her face. Garcia shook her head quickly. "N-no..."

"Me and Emily got into trouble at the crime scene. Somebody set fire to it and I hit my head, I think." She frowned, but then smiled quickly. "I'm fine, Pen. Don't worry. Emily's peachy too."

"I won't tell her Jay, but you have to." The tech analyst said quickly.

"Why? I don't want to worry her for nothing, I feel fine. It's just a mild concussion and I'm on pain killers."

"Because you'd like to know if it was her that was hurt." Penelope shot back the argument easily. JJ looked down for a moment, but then sighed. "I'll tell her after the press conference."

"That's my girl." Penelope smiled. "Take care of yourself, kitten."

"I will."

JJ disconnected the call and got to work quickly.

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

"This is it." Prentiss told Morgan as she parked the car on the driveway and got out, walking towards the door. She knocked three times and turned to him. "His fiancée could be at work."

"I don't think she'd be at work if her soon-to-be husband was found murdered like that." Morgan commented as she knocked again when there was no answer. "FBI, open the door."

Prentiss was about to answer him, when something behind him caught her eye. She yelled out. "MORGAN!" The other agent spun around just in time to see a man turn around and make a run for it. The two profilers sped after him, drawing their guns. The man turned left and right into streets and almost got run over by cars, Morgan and Prentiss almost getting run over too as they chased him. When he finally turned into a small, narrow street, they had him. Morgan was in front of him, gun raised, and when the man spun around, Emily Prentiss was blocking his only other escape route.

"Let me see your hands!" Morgan yelled at the man. But instead of doing that, the man cried out hysterically and dropped to the floor crying. Morgan and Prentiss shared a look of confusion before they arrested him.

**CHAPTER NINE**

"Look, we just want answers. Why did you run from us?" The man didn't answer and Prentiss was getting frustrated. This case had gone everywhere but the way she planned.

"Did you and Hector's fiancée have a relationship? Was she cheating on him with you?"

"NO!" The man yelled out, slamming his fist on the table. Prentiss looked him in the eyes. "Tell us what you know and we won't treat you as a suspect."

"Y-you don't understand." The man started, with a shaky voice. "Everybody has been asking me questions, I can't deal with them anymore."

"What are you talking about?" Morgan asked the man, coming closer.

"Derek..." Emily said as she finally noticed what the man had been doing. Unconsciously, he'd been playing with a ring around his finger the entire time.

"P-Peter Hoffman." The man said weakly. "I-I was Hector's fiancé."

Both agents shared a look before Emily sighed and nodded. "Okay, mister Hoffman. We're sorry about yelling at you like that. But you have to understand that running away from Federal agents isn't the best thing to do when you're not a suspect."

"I-I understand. I was just...tired of questions." Peter said, running a hand through his already disheveled hair.

"Well, I'm sorry about this but you're going to have to answer some more. You're not here as a suspect, you're here as Hector's closest relative, okay?" The man nodded.

"What was he like?"

"He was a charmer. And he was so good to everybody, he joined the army just to help out those people in the Middle East. He made me feel like I was special."

"Can you tell me what happened yesterday?" Emily asked, scooting a little closer.

"We uh, we had a nice dinner. It was our anniversary. He proposed to me three weeks ago, two days after he came back from his last tour. He took me to a fancy restaurant a couple of towns over. We had a really great time."

"And after that?"

"We went to bed. I remember at about...half past one in the morning he got up from the bed, said he couldn't sleep and that he was going to go downstairs to read. I got woken up by a call in the morning a-and..." The man choked up, tears filling his eyes. "H-he wasn't there...He was gone."

"I'm sorry for your loss, mister Hoffman." Emily nodded sincerely. Peter dried his tears and nodded. "I want to catch the bastards that did this to my husband."

"Did he have any enemies? Had he been acting weird lately?" Morgan asked, scribbling down notes. Peter thought for a second.

"Hector was out of the house a lot, always doing something. And I didn't blame him. I have a very busy career myself, I don't have much time at home either. But lately whenever he came home late at night he looked like something was bothering him. He didn't sleep at night and he was out of the house a lot in the evening...whenever I would ask him about it he'd wave it away."

"Mister Hoffman...Do you know anything about a...clan or cult of some sorts Hector could have been involved in?" Prentiss asked carefully. Peter looked up with a frown.

"I- no, of course not...He wasn't that kind of person. Hector helped people."

"Okay, I think we have enough. I'll ask one of the Officers to drive you home." Emily said, putting a hand on his arm. He nodded. "And if you know something, please tell me."

She nodded. "I will."

**CHAPTER TEN**

Emily smiled as she saw JJ walk back inside, just coming back from her press conference. Everybody was somewhere else doing _something else _and the only thing the brunette could do was admire her girlfriend's beauty.

"How did the press conference go?" She asked as JJ wrapped her arms around her and kissed the side of her face. "It went okay...a bit of hysterics and name-calling but I handled it. They are informed and vigilant as of right now."

"Good." Emily smiled.

"Did you find something?" JJ asked. Emily nodded. "A lot, actually. Hector Audis was gay and his soon-to-be husband didn't know anything of his nightly shenanigans."

"Well, that's interesting." JJ frowned. Emily smiled and turned around, kissing the blonde on the lips. When she pulled her closer for deeper contact, JJ's chest hit Emily's chair and she groaned in pain, stumbling back. Emily's eyes widened.

"Jen! I'm sorry! I should have known you were sore, I-..." She was cut off by JJ pressing her finger against her lips. "Emily, I need to talk to you."

The brunette frowned, but nodded. "Okay?"

"Em, I lied to you." JJ started. The profiler looked confused. "About what?"

"I said I was cleared for work...a-and actually, I'm not. Just hear me out." She added quickly when Emily looked ready to interrupt her.

"I have a mild concussion and a broken rib from where he punched me. And before you start feeling guilty, it wasn't your fault. I made Hotch promise not to tell you because I knew you would fuss over me but Garcia was right: if you were in my position I would need to know if you were okay. So Hotch put me on the case but he said I needed to take it easy, which is why we had to split up."

The silence after her explanation was deafening. Finally, Emily smiled weakly. "Thank you for telling me, baby."

"You're not mad at me?" JJ asked, sounding as if she didn't believe what she was hearing. She shook her head. "I'm not mad at you, I hate that you're hurt though." She pushed JJ down onto a chair and started massaging her shoulders gently.

"I love you, baby." JJ smiled up at her.

"I love you too."


	3. Chapter 3

_**Thank you everybody for alerting, and all that jazz. I really appreciate it! :)**_

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

"So, anything?" Prentiss asked Spencer when the two agents walked back in. He shared a look with Rossi and sighed as he sat down.

"He didn't have any relatives, but the people around the forest told us that he took his job seriously."

"A little too seriously." Rossi grunted. "He was there 24/7, especially at night."

"Okay, so...Hector disappears at night, is found in a forest where the groundskeeper is keeping guard." JJ commented on the logical explanation behind it all. "Can't we just get him as a suspect and put a BOLO out for him?"

Emily nodded at her suggestion, but Rossi shook his head. "It's not enough to prove he's a suspect."

"In case you had forgotten, we got threatened by him." Emily defended. "I think he's our number one suspect and we should treat him like one."

JJ's phone buzzed and she went to the laptop immediately, making a connection with their tech analyst.

"Guys, guess what." Garcia said as she beamed proudly.

"Is it something good?" Prentiss asked as the four agents came closer to the screen. She nodded. "I found Danny."

"Really?! Where!" JJ said, her eyes wide. Garcia smiled. "Take a look at this."

She sent over a picture. There were two people, both with an arm around the other, dressed in military uniforms.

"The man on the right is Hector Audis, our victim." Spencer said. Garcia nodded. "It's from a couple of months ago, when he was deployed in Iraq. And the man on the left is, according to what I could find in the database, his best friend when he was overseas. Danny Archer, 23."

"It's him, Garcia." JJ nodded. She could feel Emily frown next to her and turned her attention towards the brunette. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I've seen that picture before somewhere..." She said. "But I can't pinpoint where..."

At that moment, Morgan walked inside the room. "Discoveries?" He asked the group.

"This picture was taken overseas. It's Hector and Danny together. They looked like they were best friends during deployment." Rossi explained. Morgan narrowed his eyes.

"I've seen that picture somewhere before." He said. Emily turned her head towards him. "That means it was-..."

"In Hector's house. Peter knew Danny too." Morgan finished the sentence for her.

"Why didn't he say anything?!" JJ asked.

"Maybe he was scared, threatened...Maybe he knows he is next?" Spencer threw the possibilities on the table. It was then, Garcia decided to interrupt by gasping dramatically.

"Garcia? Everything okay?" Prentiss asked. The tech analyst looked like she was ready to burst into tears as she typed furiously on the keyboard. "S-someone is hacking into the system..."

"Can you stop it?"

"I...I don't know...Whoever it is, he's bypassing all my passwords...my encrypted-..." she cut herself off. "NO!"

"Garcia, what's happening?!" Morgan asked, leaning closer to the screen.

"H-he's...He is in the FBI database..." She stuttered, still trying to stop the threat.

"What is he looking for?" Spencer asked.

"H-he's opening...files...H-he just opened Emily's personal file."

"What's he doing with it?" Emily asked, frowning deeply.

"H-he just deleted it. H-he deleted your file." Garcia brought her hands to her mouth.

"Penelope, _focus_." Emily coaxed. "Only mine?"

"N-no, JJ's as well...He just deleted hers. A-and now he's uploading a file onto my-..." The video-chat switched off suddenly, when a different face came into view. A face JJ and Emily had become too close to in the last hours.

"I will repeat it one more time. This does not concern you. You and the rest of your team need to stop investigating. This is your last warning. If you don't, we will be forced to stop you." After that, the screen went black. It was silent for a couple of seconds as the agents stared at the now black screen.

"Was that-..." Spencer asked, but Prentiss interrupted him. "Danny."

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

"And do we know _why _he deleted the files?" Aaron Hotchner asked as soon as he came in and was informed of the situation. The agents shared a look.

"I think it's supposed to be a warning. That he knows who we are and that he isn't afraid to show his dominance." Prentiss said.

"This means he is skilled in computer hacking. Maybe that's how he threatened Hector?" Morgan asked.

"We still don't have a motive as to why he could be doing it." Rossi commented.

"And where does the groundskeeper fit in? He was dominant over Danny. Which means that he probably gave out the orders."

Hotch's phone rang. "Hotchner. Okay, I'll send someone." He looked up at his team. "The hospital. They said that the jogger has something to tell us."

"I'll go." Morgan offered. "I'll do it tomorrow morning, it's on the way here anyway." He looked at his watch and saw it was already past midnight.

Hotch nodded his agreement. "Rossi, go with him. Try and get as much out of him as possible." After wishing goodnight, the two agents left.

The screen popped back on suddenly, and it showed Garcia's face beyond concern. "I...I couldn't stop him..."She muttered weakly. They all shook their heads. "It's not your fault, Garcia. He's done this before."

"I saw the video too...Is he going to come after you guys?"

"No, Garcia, we'll stop them." Hotch reassured her before he turned back to his team. "JJ, press conference first thing in the morning. Put out a BOLO for Martin Pont and Danny Archer."

"No, Hotch." Emily got up and faced her boss. JJ, Spencer and Garcia frowned at her behavior.

"Something you'd like to say, Prentiss?" Hotch asked calmly.

"You just saw that man threatening her. I'm not going to let her stand alone in front of all these people, what if something happens?!"

JJ got up and put an arm on Emily's shoulder. "Em, it's fine, I-..."

"I don't want to let you do this! Anybody but her, please, Hotch."

The chief looked stoical. With a sigh, he turned to JJ. "Can you do it?"

"Yes, Hotch." The blonde nodded.

"Tomorrow, first thing. Get started." Hotch said as he walked away to make a phone call. Garcia disconnected herself to work on getting more information, and Spencer continued to work on profiling. The silence between the two women was tense.

"I'm sorry, Em." JJ broke the silence. Emily shook her head. "Save it. It's okay, I know how much you love your job."

"I understand what you want to say. And I couldn't agree more but we can't let it get in the way. Nobody got hurt." Emily scoffed and JJ winced at her own wording. "I mean, nobody got _seriously _hurt. We need to prevent them from killing again."

"Okay...I'm going to go back to the hotel and get some rest. You coming?"

"No, I have to start working on the conference."

"Can't you do that...from the hotel room? I want you to be close to me..."Emily whispered. JJ bit her lip as she looked around. "Okay, I'll bring my laptop along."

Emily smiled as she wrapped her arms around JJ and nuzzled her face into the crook of her neck.

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

"Any more questions?" JJ insisted on talking, but the loud crowd wasn't backing down. Everybody was yelling at her.

"Martin Pont is a good man! You should be ashamed of yourself! Who do you think you are, coming here and ordering us around! Blaming a soldier!"

JJ took a deep breath to steady herself. "Nobody? Okay, thank you all for coming." She stepped back and let the police Officers handle the crowd. As soon as she walked back inside, she covered her face with her hands and disappeared into the bathroom.

Emily, having followed the conference from a spot behind the crowd, followed her inside. "Hey...You did great out there." She whispered as she saw the blonde splash water into her face.

"I hate that they didn't let me help them." JJ whispered back as she looked at herself in the mirror. Emily walked up behind her and wrapped her arms around her waist, kissing her temple. "You helped them. At least they know what they have to expect now. They'll be vigilant."

JJ stared at herself in the mirror for a couple more seconds before Emily broke the silence again. "We have to talk about what happened yesterday."

"What's there to talk about?" JJ asked.

"Please don't do this. Don't shut me out. I want you to tell me...If you're scared or-..."

"Of course I'm scared! I had a gun to my head! They were going to set us on fire, Emily! How can you _not _be scared?!"

"I'm scared too." Emily nodded.

"You saved me. I could have never gotten out of that fire if it wasn't for you." JJ whispered, looking down. Emily frowned and put a hand on her chin, pulling it up to face her.

"I wasn't going to leave you, JJ. I can't imagine living without you." Emily leaned close and pressed her lips against JJ, who sighed and kissed her back gently. When they both pulled apart, Emily cleared her throat.

"We should...get going. See what that jogger had to say and put our stories together. We're almost there." They both got out of the bathroom and re-joined the group of profilers, where Morgan was looking downright pissed. The two women frowned at his behavior.

"Morgan? What's going on?"

"They took him!" He spat. Emily frowned. "What? What happened?!"

"We arrived at the hospital and the nurses were just about to call us saying that someone entered the hospital and the jogger went with him. They kidnapped our only witness." Rossi explained. JJ buried her head in her hands and Emily ran a hand through her hair.

"Security tapes." Hotch bellowed. Spencer made connection with Garcia and she got to work immediately, pulling them up and showing them.

The man pulling the jogger out of the hospital by the arm was unmistakably familiar.

"It's Danny. He's got the witness."

"That's his next victim."

"We need to profile him, immediately!" Morgan said.

"He's a soldier. So maybe he saw horrible things in the Mideast that caused him to go psycho." Prentiss said.

"Maybe Hector did something that caused people to die and he's blaming him. Either way, we're fairly certain that Danny killed Hector in the forest and Martin Pont knew of the murder."

"In the case that it is cult-like, they'll do it again in the same woods because it's a ritual place."

"Let's go back to the woods. We could find something there. Full Kevlar, guns out, be prepared for anything."

The six agents walked out of the room. The two women shared a look. Both saw the fear in each other's eyes.


End file.
